We were supposed to climb Mt. Shasta that weekend, but got
an unfavorable weather forecast, so we decided to climb Mt.
Silliman instead. We thought Shasta, Silliman, what's the
difference?

Reading through the many trip reports for Silliman and
talking to people about it, it becomes clear that Silliman
is not as easy as one would expect. Although, the
statistics of 4,500 ft. and 10 mile round trip imply a
relatively easy mountain that could be climbed as a day
hike, in winter or early spring things can be quit
different. The route is covered with snow that makes
progress difficult. Worst, the weather pattern seem to be
clear in the morning, but getting cloudy and stormy in the
afternoon. Many trips to Silliman end with a statement such
as: "We made it about 80% of the way to the summit, but alas
we did not beat the clouds closing in on an otherwise
perfect weather morning." (Rich Calliger)

Our plan was to make this into a 2-day trip, and attempt the
summit early on Sunday before the clouds have a chance to
play their dirty trick. We started Saturday morning under
bright blue sky on the Twins Lake trail. The trail was free
of snow until it bends north at the end of the long assent.
From there it was mostly firm snow 2-4 feet deep. The trail
was marked by an indentation in the snow, but we managed to
loose it at one of the creek crossing. We left the main
trail at Silliman Creek and followed the drainage high on
the right bank. The use trail was not visible as was the
main trail to Twin Lakes, and snowshoes were needed to avoid
post holing. We setup camp in a nice flat area on the north
side of the creek just after it makes the sharp bend to the
east.

The bright blue sky that greeted us when we started the hike
quickly turned into a complete overcast. By 10 AM the
clouds hovered at around 8,500 ft and would have made
summiting impossible. This served as a warning for the
following day, the summit day.

We finally got rolling at 6:30 on Sunday. The clouds were
already forming on the west. We started climbing the steep
slopes of the canyon heading to Silliman Lake, and so were
the clouds. It was a race against the clouds, so we allow
ourselves only short breaks as we were climbing. After
staying on the right, we crossed the creek on broad snow
bridges well below the lake and continued on the left were
there was an open couloir about 25% which made the climbing
reasonable.

Once we reached the top of the couloir we could see the
summit and continued on the left side of the bowl towards
the tree area, which covers the southwest slopes of
Silliman. We reached the summit a little after 9:00. The
clouds, having lost the race, were getting closer by the
minutes. We can see them as a wall rolling towards us.
There was not much time for celebration. We took a few
photos, signed the register, and headed down. By 9:45 the
clouds reached the summit, and a few minutes later the
summit was out of view.

A series of long glissades got us back to camp in about an
hour, and we took our time heading out. I got back home by
9:00 PM, not a common thing on PCS trips.